Dot.com Divas #1
eBusiness Insights from the Visionary Women-founders of 20 Net-Ventures
from Carol Fitzgerald/CEO Book Reporter.com 1/11 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
Scarcity of Women.
In the five years that I have been running The Book Report Network, I have been surprised at the scarcity of women running Internet businesses. Many times I have been the only woman to come to the table for a meeting. For all the “equality” of the Internet, it’s still been one tough road for women to travel. The Internet – being a new medium – I assumed that this would be different, but I have been at manyhigh-level corporate meetings, seminars, & panels where the numbers of speakers were so skewed (screwed up – Wiz4biz) male, that there actually was criticism from the audience.
Dot.com Divas.
As a result, discovering Author Elizabeth Carlassare’s book “Dot.com Divas” was a pleasure. Some of the female entrepreneurs profiled I know personally; others I have long admired. Eugenie Diserio from Astronet and Candice Carpenter & Nancy Evans from iVillage were originally funded by AOL’s Greenhouse, just like our Book Report Network. It’s been interesting to track where we all have gone along the way.
Book Organization.
The book is well-organized in sections that discuss portal, content, & community ventures like iVillage, Astronet, & ThirdAge Media; web-based Service Ventures like NetCreations & EDGAR Online; e-Commerce ventures like Della.com & Sparks.com; and e-Business applications and web technology ventures like Marimba &RightWorks. As the Internet is a global medium, it’s great to see two overseas properties as part of the mix.
Info on each of 20 Businesses.
For each business, there is a profile that includes the Business Model, followed by Top Three Lessons Learned & Key Strategic Take-Aways from each founder. These three sections are chockfull of enough advice to make the book worth a look. There is nothing in this business like the advice from those in the trenches.
[ Info on each Biz continued, the Dot.com bust, Resources, Cowgirls in Premium Content ]